Japanes native thankful for U.S. good will after war

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Japanese-American Reiko McKendry usually tries to keep a low profile on Pearl Harbor Day, to avoid any possibility of conflict or ill will.

It was 71 years ago, on Dec. 7, that her native country’s surprise attack claimed 2,403 American lives and triggered the United States’ entry into World War II.

This year, however, McKendry is using the date to thank American soldiers and sailors, especially those who were in the Pacific following Japan’s defeat in August 1945.

“If not I, who would speak out on behalf of millions of Japanese who were so grateful to America immediately after World War II?” she said. “During the war, for the victor to show mercy to the vanquished was a foreign concept to the Japanese military. Consequently, when Japan surrendered unconditionally, all surviving Japanese feared the worst. This, however, did not happen.

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“Instead, American soldiers brought food, peace and democracy,” McKendry said. “Above all, they treated the general public with compassion. They demonstrated the principles for which America stood. Such compassion shown to the defeated was a shocking turning point in the Japanese perception of the so-called ‘enemy.’ What had been inculcated in their minds by their own society about the ‘enemy’ proved to be wrong.

“This is the reason people of my parents’ generation in Japan hold America to the highest pedestal, as I still do today as a naturalized U.S. citizen. This is why I am profoundly grateful to all American World War II veterans.”

McKendry, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., was born right after the war and came to the United States in 1972. She and her husband, David, have visited Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima with their sons — now grown — in an attempt to give them well-rounded views about the war’s suffering and destruction.

She described Japan as a country that “used its military for all the wrong reasons.”

“During World War II, Japan’s goal was territorial expansion at all human cost,” McKendry said. “Clearly, there was no value placed on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

However, the country’s animosity toward the West was deep-rooted, dating back to 1853 when four black ships, led by Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States, arrived in the port of Uraga in Kanagawa Prefecture. Prior to that, Japan had been closed to the outside world for more than 200 years. Leaders in Japan knew that Western nations were colonizing other Asian countries. Japan wanted no part of it and was determined not to fall into that trap.

Against its will, Japan was pressured by the West to open its ports for trade, “or else.” Japan obliged, but also developed a sense of resentment toward the West for forcing it to open its doors, McKendry said.

That was followed by the 1868 Meiji Restoration, when Japan’s motto became, “Catch up to and surpass the West.”

Some historians have speculated that the United States deliberately provoked Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, so the American public would accept America’s entry into the war. Some believe that U.S. leaders knew Nazi Germany was developing the atom bomb, and needed a compelling reason to join the war effort and stop them.

“It was not okay for a nation that chose to become an aggressor to attack Pearl Harbor — or any place for that matter — on a Sunday morning, regardless of whether or not some key U.S. officials knew of the impending attack,” she said.

From relatives who were in Japan during the war, McKendry has heard stories about scary sirens warning of impending American B-29 bombings, people fleeing to safer areas and food rationing.

However, she believes President Harry Truman acted wisely by approving the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war, eliminating the need for a full-scale invasion of Japan that might have dragged out fighting into 1946, costing more lives.

“Given the horrendous fighting and brutality being inflicted by Imperial Japanese military all over Asia, I think he made the right decision,” she said. “I’m not sure if the second one was necessary. Then again, it made Japan surrender unconditionally quickly thereafter.”

Between now and Aug. 15, 2015 — the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender — McKendry has made it her life’s mission to express her appreciation to every American veteran she can, in person, via her website or through her book, “To America With Profound Gratitude: My Journey to Freedom and Independence.”

More than 400,000 American service members died in World War II and another 670,000 were wounded, meaning that well over 1 million soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines and their families were directly affected by the casualties of the war.

All told, the war effort involved an estimated 16.1 million American service members worldwide.